


Salem

by Whedonista93



Series: Spooky Season 2020 [25]
Category: Hocus Pocus (1993), NCIS
Genre: Crack, Crossover, F/M, Fluff, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27219415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whedonista93/pseuds/Whedonista93
Summary: Contrary to what his co-workers believe, Deep Six is not Timothy McGee’s first novel. His first novel, Salem, was released as a fictional autobiography under the name Thackery Binx.
Relationships: Max Dennison/Allison Watts, Thackery Binx/Dani Dennison, Timothy McGee/Dani Dennison
Series: Spooky Season 2020 [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958881
Comments: 46
Kudos: 105





	1. Chapter 1

Contrary to what his co-workers believe, _Deep_ Six is not Timothy McGee’s first novel. His first novel, _Salem_ , was released as a fictional autobiography under the name Thackery Binx. He made his first million on the young adult market before he even graduated M.I.T. His publisher is still asking, begging, for a sequel, and Tim doesn’t know how to explain he can’t. It’s too personal.

* * *

“Go bags!” Gibbs calls, stalking into the bullpen. “Dead Marine in Salem!”

Tim freezes. Despite only living an eight hour drive from Salem - hell, he’d been less than an hour away when he was at M.I.T. - Tim has never actually gone to Salem. He’s never been able to decide whether he’s more scared that going will prove his dreams true, or that going will prove his dreams false.

“Now, McGee,” Gibbs snaps.

Tim shakes himself back to the present and grabs his bag. He can’t quit fidgeting the whole drive.

“Scared of witches, McGhoul?” Tony teases.

Part of Tim really wants to tell Tony yes.

They go directly to the local P.D. when they roll into town. After a quick debrief - Marine found, by all appearances ritually sacrificed, in the local cemetery - and the requisite retelling of some local lore - fucking Sandersons - Gibbs starts snapping orders.

“David, stay here and coordinate with the locals. DiNozzo, body. McGee, detective said there’s some folks at the Sanderson Museum who can help with the local lore. Check the scene before you lose the light, then make contact. Our victim was on special assignment at Charlestown, I’m going to make contact with his C.O.”

Tim gives a half-hearted affirmative, then steps back out onto the street.

A local uniform comes stumbling out behind him. “Agent!”

Tim turns expectantly.

“Uh, sorry, Sarge said to walk with you. Doesn’t want you getting lost.”

Tim’s lips twist wryly. “Thanks, but no thanks. I know the way.”

Tim turns toward the cemetery without waiting for a response. He flashes his badge at the uniforms standing guard over the taped off crime scene, exchanges the expected small talk over the apparent ritual sacrifice, on Halloween night, in Salem of all places, then makes quick work of the crime scene. Locals have already trampled over almost anything useful, but there’s enough left for Tim to convince himself that their murderer is a human.

He takes a somewhat meandering way out of the cemetery, and pauses briefly at a familiar gravestone. Good ol’ Billy… maybe Tim’s not as crazy as he feels some days. Resolve firmed, he turns toward the old Sanderson house. He doesn’t let himself hesitate going up the steps and through the door. A bell tinkles cheerily when he shoves it open, and a black cat eyes him disdainfully from in front of the merrily crackling fire.

“We close in five minutes,” a light voice calls.

“Federal agent,” Tim calls back.

A quiet curse. “Be right with you!”

Tim looks around as he waits. Everything is clean and orderly instead of the dust and shambles it was in the last time he was here. Where the black flame candle once sat is a drawing of it instead. Winifred’s spell book is clearly - to his eyes, at least - a replica, but still locked up tightly in a glass case. He can’t help but laugh when his eyes fall on a display of _Salem_.

He hears soft footsteps and turns.

A young woman in a casual, long sleeved gray dress that brushes the floor, sandy brown hair covered in a pointed hat, and blue eyes that have haunted his dreams, has her hip against the counter, her arms crossed over her chest, and a smile on her lips. “Took you long enough.”

Tim exhales. “Dani.”


	2. Chapter 2

After the Sanderson’s demise and Thackery moving on, Dani and Allison study Winifred’s spell book. It turns out, not everything in it is evil. Dani curses rather impressively for someone her age when they learn the details of the curse Winifred used on Thackery - he’s still not at rest. He’ll be back someday.

The old Binx family homestead is long since not much more than a few cornerstones, but they start there, using every spell and potion they can find to turn Winifred’s curse on its head - to bless Thackery’s second life. They’re not sure if he’ll remember his first, but they’re not willing to take any chances.

Allison and Max, much to their parents’ chagrin, marry the year they graduate high school. They go to a local school, ostensibly for financial reasons, but that’s something none of them will ever have to worry about - not that they can tell their parents that - but in reality, they stayed close for Dani. They return to Salem victorious - Allison with a history degree and Max with a business degree - three and half years later and convince the city council to sell them the old Sanderson place. They hire Dani to run the register in the afternoons after school. In Allison and Dani’s hands, it’s a fruitful business, with far less ‘accidents’ than there were when it was open years past. Something about warding those nasty old witches out of their own home gives Dani warm and fuzzy feelings.

When Dani turns sixteen, she starts dreaming about him. He’s going by Timothy, she learns. And he remembers everything, but he’s not totally convinced they’re memories.

When Allison and Max present her with a signed copy of  _ Salem _ for her seventeenth birthday, Dani laughs until she cries, and doesn’t even try to explain why to her parents.

When their parents decide to relocate after Dani graduates, she moves in with Max and Allison. She can’t leave Salem. Not when she knows he’s coming back one day.

Max and Allison are out of town and Dani is in the back putting the finishing touches on a truth serum, of sorts, when the bell above the door rings.

“We close in five minutes,” she calls, hoping the customer will just leave.

“Federal agent,” an amused voice calls back.

Dani curses lowly. “Be right with you!”

She carefully removes the potion from above the burner, and pours it into vials to cool. She plucks her hat off the hook by the door and settles it over her frizzing curls before stepping into the main shop. The agent’s back is to her, so she takes a moment to observe. His hair is just a shade too long and falling loose from whatever product he’d gelled it back with that morning. His suit doesn’t fit quite right. He shifts, just enough to put his profile on display, and Dani takes in a sharp breath. She’s barely composed herself when he fully turns.

She smiles. “Took you long enough.”

He doesn’t hide his surprise as well as Dani. “Dani.”


	3. Chapter 3

When he says her name, her smile spreads and her composure flees. She launches herself across the space between them. He catches her easily and pulls her close, knocking her hat off her head as he bends to bury his face in her hair.

Dani laughs. “You got tall.”

He pulls back and brushes her hair behind her ear. “You got beautiful.”

Dani blushes.

He grins at her.

“Thackery or Tim?”

He startles. “Uh, Tim is fine.”

“I dream of you,” she admits.

Tim’s thumb brushes her cheek from where his fingers are still tangled in her hair. “I dream of you too. I just…”

“How?” Dani guesses when he trails off.

Tim nods.

“After… everything, Allison and I started studying Winifred’s spellbook.”

Tim frowns, a warning on the tip of his tongue.

Dani rolls her eyes. “Dangerous, I know. But you should be grateful,” she pokes him in the chest, “because if we hadn’t, you would’ve been a cat again before the end of that year.”

Tim winces.

“Not everything in the book is bad. We couldn’t find a way to… leave you at peace. So we did the next best thing we could and tried to bless the second life you were bound to.”

Tim smiles. “It’s been a good one,” he admits.

Dani smiles back. “Good.”

“Where are Max and Allison anyway?”

Dani rolls her eyes. “Anniversary trip.”

Tim blinks. “Don’t tell me they got married on Halloween?”

Dani laughs, and he feels the sound in his very soul. “When else?”

Tim rolls his eyes, but his phone trills before he can respond. He flinches and pulls it from his pocket. “Right. I’m supposed to be working.” He answers the phone. “McGee.”

“McGeek!” Tony greets. “Done at the cemetery?”

“Yeah, locals made a mess of it, but I’ve got a few theories.”

“Whatever. Make it to the shop the locals recommended?”

“Yeah. Just got here.”

“Talked to anyone yet?”

“Not yet, Tony, I just walked in.”

“I’m emailing you pictures of the victim. I’ll be there in five. Local uniform offered me a ride.”

“Tony, you don’t have to,” the connection clicks off.

Dani raises an eyebrow.

“He hung up on me,” Tim explains.

“Rude,” Dani sniffs.

Tim huffs. “Yeah. He can be. But, look, before he gets here. You know anything about the Marine in the cemetery?”


	4. Chapter 4

Dani scowls. 

“I’ll take that as a yes?” Tim ventures.

Dani reluctantly disentangles herself from his arms and stomps back toward the backroom.

Tim follows.

She stoppers the potion she’d been brewing when he arrived and holds the vial out to him. “This is like truth serum on crack, and it’s untraceable.”

Tim looks at the goldish liquid warily. “Okay?”

“Do you remember those two idiots who bullied Max the year we moved here?”

Tim nods. “Yeah. The Sanderson sisters ended up kidnapping them.”

Dani nods. “Right. Well, apparently, Winifred put some kind of curse on them when she had them. They’re loyal to her in the way she tried and failed to make Billy. They’ve been trying to bring the sisters back for years. I don’t know what kind of bullshit Google search they found that ritual on, but I saw them go into the cemetery last night. The Marine… he was local. I went to school with him. His mom is buried in that cemetery. I can prove it was them, but not in any way that would land them in jail.”

“I can do that,” Tim reassures, tucking the vial into his pocket and reaching out to squeeze Dani’s hand.

Dani steps into him. “He was a good guy, Tim,” Dani can’t help but sniffle a bit against his jacket.

“We’ll get them,” Tim promises, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Neither of them heard the bell jingle. “Get who?” A dark haired man leans in the doorway.

Tim tenses in her arms before he steps away.

Dani stubbornly holds onto his hand.

“Dani, this is my coworker, Tony,” Tim introduces.

Tony waggles his eyebrows and offers a hand. “Very Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo, at your service.”

Dani ignores Tony’s hand and shuffles into Tim’s side. “Is he always so arrogant?”

Tim barely bites back a laugh.

Tony looks disgruntled. “Awfully chummy here, aren’t we, McGoogly Eyes?”

Dani scowls at him. “He’s an old friend.”

Tim shrugs. “I didn’t realize Dani was running this shop now. I haven’t been here since I was a kid. But to the point, Dani saw two men going into the cemetery last night right before our Marine was murdered.”

Tony, blessedly, seems to switch his brain from lech to work mode. “Can you identify them?”

Dani nods. “They’re local. Ernie and Jay… I can’t remember their last names, I’m sorry.”

“Would you be willing to testify?”

Dani nods again. “Absolutely. The Marine was local too. He was a nice guy. Came in and bought candles for his elderly aunt every week.”

Tim squeezes her hand.

Dani looks up.

“Do you know where we can find Ernie and Jay?” Tim asks.

Dani rolls her eyes. “Probably at the bar downtown.”


	5. Chapter 5

Between the information Dani gives them, and the potion Tim slips into their water cups at the station, the case is wrapped up before midnight. They find a diner downtown - the only place that seems to still be open - as soon as they finish the requisite paperwork, and slump into a corner booth.

Tim’s not surprised to find Dani already there. Nor is he surprised when she invites herself to join them, sliding into the booth next to him and slumping against Tim. Gibbs raises an eyebrow. Dani raises one right back.

Tony nearly cackles. “Oh, didn’t McCrushing tell you, Boss? He knows the little witch.”

Dani rolls her eyes at him and takes her pointed hat off, tossing it onto the empty table next to their booth.

“McGee?” Gibbs prompts.

“I didn’t think it mattered, Boss. I haven’t been here since I was a kid and I had no idea Dani was going to be here when we got this case. I figured she’d be off at college-” he stops and frowns down at Dani. “Wait, why  _ aren’t _ you at college?”

Dani waves a dismissive hand and slumps further into his side.

Tim rolls his eyes and lifts his arm to wrap it around her shoulders.

“Awfully friendly for someone you haven’t seen since you were a kid,” Tony challenges.

Dani, bless her, flips him off. “Just ‘cause he hasn’t been here doesn’t mean we’re not still friends.”

“How old are you?” Ziva demands. “McGee, you are not stealing from the cradle, are you?”

“Robbing the cradle,” Tony corrects. “But she has a point, McCreepy.”

Dani scowls at them. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m twenty-one.”

Tony whistles. “Didn’t know you had it in you, McPlayer. I’m actually impressed.”

Tim rolls his eyes at Tony. “I’m only twenty-six, DiNozzo.”

Dani looks up at Tim through her lashes. “He’s annoying.”

Tim smirks. “Try working with him.”

Dani’s nose scrunches adorably. “No thanks.” She yawns.

Tim reaches down with his free hand and brushes her hair away from her face. “Hey, how long have you been up?” Out of the corner of his eye, he sees something in Gibbs’ expression soften minutely.

Dani shrugs. “Probably as long as you.”

Tim snorts. “Shouldn’t you get to bed? I can walk you home.”

Dani rolls her eyes. “I haven’t seen you in like ten years. I’m ordering coffee and pancakes and not letting you out of my sight.”

Tim rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue.

Silence falls as they all devour their meals. Dani pays the whole table’s tab - and leaves a hefty tip under her coffee mug - before anyone can protest. “It’s the least I can do,” she insists, following them out onto the sidewalk. A breeze blows and she shivers.

Tim frowns. “Where’s your jacket?”

Dani looks down at herself and frowns. “I guess I left it at the shop.”

Tim rolls his eyes and drapes his suit jacket over her shoulders.

Dani snuggles into it happily.

Gibbs stretches his arms over his head, then tosses the car keys to Tony. “DiNozzo, you’re driving first.”


	6. Chapter 6

Ziva frowns. “We are not staying overnight?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “It’s the day after Halloween in Salem. There’s not gonna be a free hotel room in a hundred miles.”

Dani, seeing her opportunity, seizes it. “Don’t be ridiculous. You guys can’t drive back tonight!”

Gibbs frowns at her. “We sure as hell aren’t sleeping in the car.”

Dani rolls her eyes. “I was going to offer my house,” she eyes the sedan a little judgmentally, “but if you’d prefer to try the car, be my guests.”

Gibbs huffs a laugh. “You always so mouthy?”

“Since she was a kid,” Tim confirms before she can respond.

Dani elbows him in the ribs. She raises a brow at Gibbs. “So?”

Gibbs nods. “We’d appreciate it. Thank you.”

The couple blocks to the house she shares with Max and Allison is silent.

Inside, she flips on lights and cranks the heater up a few degrees. She points Gibbs to the master bedroom, points down the hall to the guest room and spare bathroom and tells Tony and Ziva they can duke it out for the guest bed or the couch, then drags Tim up the stairs to her little attic suite.

Tim raises a brow at her. “Dani, there’s only one bed.”

She rolls her eyes at him as she shrugs out of his suit jacket. “Why would I have two beds in my room, Tim?”

Tim blushes.

Dani, just to be ornery, winks, and walks through her closet to the en suite bathroom, closing the door behind her. She slips out of her dress and washes the makeup from her face before brushing her teeth and turning to the drawer of pajamas she keeps in the bathroom. She eyes the scrap of silk and lace - that supposedly passes as a nightgown - that Allison had given her for her last birthday. She blushes at the very sight of it wondering what her sister-in-law had been thinking, then glances at the door, as if she can see Tim through it. Allison always has been a stronger Seer than Dani… Dani shakes her head and selects a cotton sleep shirt, decorated in black cats, that falls to mid thigh, slams the drawer closed, and goes back out to the bedroom.

“Bathroom’s through there,” she points when Tim looks up at her.

He opens his mouth a couple times, then give up and nods, brushing against her as he goes. Dani busies herself by kicking stray garments toward the laundry and lighting a few candles with an absent wave of her fingers before turning off the overhead light in favor of the little lamp on her nightstand as she tucks herself under the covers, back against the headboard.

Tim shuffles nervously when he comes out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and boxers. Dani’s mouth goes a little dry. She flips the covers back in invitation.

“Dani, are you-”

“Come to bed, Tim,” she cuts him off softly.

He huffs, but climbs into the bed, sitting up next to her.

Dani immediately tucks herself back into his side. She waves at the copy of  _ Salem  _ on the nightstand on his side of the bed. “I was on chapter five.”

Tim picks it up and laughs. “Okay?”

Dani pokes him in the side. “So read to me.”

Tim rolls his eyes, but tucks one arm behind her shoulder so she can snuggle closer. “Yes, your majesty.” He stops after two chapters.

Dani looks up at him. “What?”

He sets the book aside and turns slightly toward her. “I missed you, Dani. And I don’t… not just the little girl, from back then, but…”

“The me now, that you’ve dreamed of?” Dani whispers.

Tim nods. “I really want to…”

Dani nods. “Then do it.”

Tim hesitates.

Dany doesn’t. She arches up and kisses him. Somehow, she ends up on her back with Tim hovering over her.

He blinks down. “Dani…”

Dani kisses him again.


	7. Chapter 7

Tim doesn’t dream. For the first time in… he honestly doesn’t know how long, he doesn’t dream. With Dani, alive and real and warm, tucked against his side, in his arms, he doesn’t really have anything to dream about.

Dani, he learns, rises with the sun.

“Aren’t witches supposed to be creatures of the night?” Tim grumbles when she starts shifting in the predawn light.

Dani laughs and presses a light kiss to his cheek. “Go back to sleep.”

He vaguely registers the sound of the shower before he drifts back into oblivion. He wakes again when his alarm goes off at seven and helps himself to a quick shower and dresses in black jeans and a gray button up before making his way downstairs to the smell of bacon and coffee.

He’s not surprised to find Gibbs at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee, talking quietly with Dani as she cooks. Dani, who is barefoot, in a long green skirt and a gray sweater that looks so soft he wants to twist his hands into the fabric. An image of him peeling the sweater off over her head flashes through his mind and he nearly stumbles from where he’s leaning against the doorway. Dani’s smirk tells him that little image was entirely intentional.

“Morning, Tim,” she greets without looking away from the stove. “Coffee?”

Tim takes a deep breath and steps into the kitchen. “I can get it. Cups?”

She nods to a cabinet on the far side of the kitchen. When he returns to the coffee maker at her side, she holds her face up to him expectantly, without ever stopping mixing the eggs in the bowl in front of her.

Tim can’t help but smile and oblige, kissing her once, gently, completely forgetting about his boss sitting at the counter behind him.

Gibbs clears his throat.

Tim pulls back and blushes before moving to take a seat next to Gibbs at the bar. “Sorry, boss.”

Dani looks unrepentant. “Jethro, if you wouldn’t mind manning the eggs, I’ll go wake Tony up.”

Gibbs stands and moves to the stove without protest as Dani lifts a mug of coffee from the counter and vanishes through the door toward the living room. Gibbs deftly pours the eggs into a hot pan on the stove before turning to Tim, arms crossed across his chest as he leans against the counter.

Tim fidgets nervously under the scrutinizing gaze.

Gibbs heaves a sigh. “I’m gonna have to replace you, aren’t I?”

Tim glances through the empty doorway. “I probably never would’ve joined NCIS if I knew she was still here,” he admits.

“You don’t have to explain, Tim,” Gibbs says, in the softest tone Tim has ever heard from him. “I had someone, once, that I looked at the way you look at her.”

Tim blinks. “What did she put in your coffee, Boss? You’re… almost being nice.”

Gibbs rolls his eyes. “Nothing. She’s… Shannon was a witch.”

Tim’s jaw drops.

Tony stumbles through the door, propelled by Dani, barely avoiding spilling the coffee in his hands, before the conversation can continue. Dani deftly maneuvers Gibbs away from the stove and takes over the spatula. Gibbs grins indulgent and rejoins Tim at the counter.

Tony glares at them all blearily. “How is everyone so awake?”

The front door bangs open, and Allison’s voice carries down the hall. “Is he here?”

Dani winks at Tim.

“Kitchen,” he calls, standing from his stool.

Allison squeals, and barrels around the corner, immediately wrapping him in a hug. “Finally! We missed you!”

Tim hugs her back. “I missed you too.”

“I thought you guys weren’t coming back until tomorrow,” Dani says from her place at the stove.

“Someone,” Max comes around the corner, dropping their bags in a pile in the doorway and looking pointedly at Allison, “was impatient and made us catch a redeye last night.” He shoves his wife out of the way and pulls Tim into a back sleeping hug. “Good to see you, man.”

Tim beams. “You too.”

Tony squints at the scene unfolding in front of him. “Did we jump dimensions? Are we in a world where McGeek is the popular one?” He blinks down at his coffee. “Maybe I’m still dreaming.”

“Or maybe you’re just an ass,” Allison fires back.

“Okay, everyone play nice,” Dani admonishes.

Ziva joins them then, showered and dressed, breaking the tension by simple virtue of being another presence.

Dani makes formal introductions all around, then ushers everyone to the table, and passes around eggs and bacon and toast. Breakfast passes companionably enough before everyone gathers on the porch to see the NCIS agents off.

* * *

Dani shuffles her feet on the porch, nervous and unsure in a way she hasn’t been in a very long time. Allison whistles and tosses her the keys to the tuck and trailer they use when they go out to craft shows and history festivals.

Dani looks at the keys blankly. “What do I need these for?”

Allison and Tim exchange a look.

Tim steps into Allison’s space and rests his hands on her shoulders. “So you can move me back.”

Dani looks up at him sharply.

Tim reaches up and caresses her cheek. “You didn’t think I was leaving you again, did you?”

Dani can’t stop the tears, and burrows into Tim’s chest.

He chuckles and wraps his arms around her.

“Buggering off to witch town, McProbie?” Tony needles. “Knew you weren’t gonna hack it.”

Dani lifts her head enough to glare at him.

“DiNozzo. Shut up,” Gibbs warns.

Tony gapes.

“I’m cursing him before we leave Virginia,” Dani promises darkly.


End file.
